The location of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s office was finally revealed on March 24 by Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. The office of the chief minister will be on the 46th floor of a mega riverfront tower, designed by UK-based architecture firm Foster + Partners, with a bird’s eye view of the capital city, Amaravati.

The office would lead to a helipad atop the tower. The idea behind the design is that VIPs and foreign dignitaries can enter the chief minister’s office directly through the helipad. This tower will be the tallest among the five towers making up the administrative core of the capital. The other four towers will be of 40 floors each. The models of these towers, designed by architect Sir Norman Foster’s firm, were shown in the state Assembly after the announcement for the lawmakers to see.

The administrative enclave, along with the Assembly and High Court buildings, will be the central focus of the 217-sq.km capital city. The Assembly building will take up 8.5 lakh sq.ft area while the High Court will be set up in 2 lakh sq.ft area. The capital will have nine cities, of which the High Court will make “Justice City.”

Announcing the decision, Narayana said: “We have chosen a spike design structure for the legislature complex with a rich elegance, reflecting the high aspirations of the people. The high court building design is inspired by the Buddhist Stupa architecture, while the secretariat towers will have a smart design with a focus on accessibility.”

The 27 townships, built on 1,000 acre each, will be home to a gross population of 27 lakh. Two ring roads will be developed – a 186 km long Outer Ring Road and 97.5 km long Inner Ring Road, Narayana said. Over 30 per cent of the overall area in Amaravati would be kept for parks, he added.

A road network of 1,600 km, five bridges and five reservoirs are also being planned. The development of the reservoirs aims at preventing floods in the Kondaveetivagu and Palavagu areas.

Foster + Partners have submitted the final designs of the structures and the tender process for construction of buildings will be started by the end of April, Narayana said.

Andhra Pradesh has submitted a detailed project report for requiring Rs 11,600 crore as part of capital development. The Central government has released Rs 1,500 crore, the Hindu reported. However, these plans are being looked at with skepticism by the Opposition. “The government could not finalize designs for the capital buildings in the last four years. When will the capital be actually built?,” the Indian Express reported quoted a BJP lawmaker as saying.